Latvia now at six points

Both teams were coming into the game following defeats in their respective previous games. The Latvians, however, were regarded more of a front-runner following their opening win over Finland. Kazakhstan, on the other hand, was looking to defy the odds.

And that was the story spectators could see in the first period. First, Team Latvia would open the scoring. Following a good start by the Kazakh team, Miks Indrasis capitalized on the first Latvian shot on goal beating goaltender Vitali Yeremeyev on a counter-attack. That lead, however, didn't survive too long.

Team Kazakhstan managed to keep the pace up and just three minutes later, Maxim Semyonov sprung Talgat Zhailauov onto a breakaway and the forward did a perfect job with a deke right on the doorstep to beat Edgars Masalskis, who was back as starter following Kristers Gudlevskis' appearance in the Germany game.

It looked like an even score was going to stay until the intermission, but that did not happen as just fifteen second prior to the period-ending horn, Evgeni Rymarev broke free on the right wing and fired it past Masalskis to give the only Asian participant of the tournament a 2-1 lead.

Whatever was said in the Latvian dressing room following the first, the medicine of Canadian head coach Ted Nolan worked. His team started controlling the flow of the game and outshot Kazakhstan heavily in the second frame. First, Arturs Kulda tied things up as he was at the end of a beautiful tic-tac-toe that he finished into the back of the wide-open net. 

Kulda had a hot hand in the second and that was proved a couple of minutes later when he fired one from the blue line on a powerplay and it flew all the way past traffic in front and into the back of the net. His second put Team Latvia ahead for the second time in the game. Things started to heat up a while later and after escaping the penalty box following a roughing penalty, Mikelis Redlihs got sprung on a breakaway, raced down the ice and fired one past Yeremeyev.

A two-goal lead for Latvia looked pretty big, but it was not enough. With two minutes left to play in the period, Kazakhs were given a two-man-advantage and were determined to capitalize. Their captain Nik Antropov was the first one to beat Masalskis after a scramble in front and with five seconds left, Yevgeni Blokhin tied things back up tucking home a rebound.

What a finish to the second period and the third was just as good. At least for the Latvians who opened it well again. Three minutes in, Juris Stals decided to try his luck from the top of the left circle and as the puck deflected off Kazakh player Anton Kazantsev in front, it avoided Yeremeyev and ended up giving Team Latvia another one-goal lead.

A critical moment came with seven minutes left in regulation when the Kazakhs were given a powerplay opportunity and wanted to score on it again. Roman Savchenko was close with a blast from the blue line, but it ended up deflected wide. Then, Team Kazakhstan pulled goaltender Yeremeyev, but it was not enough as Masalskis made a couple of vital saves and now the Latvians have six points in the standings.

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